Jumping-Off Points II: Jumping Out of Aircraft Obsessively, Continued

I said I'd come back to this and so I do. If the DC Relaunch is all about giving new readers jumping-on points, why all the jumping OFF imagery. Subliminally, all those people jumping our of aircraft is going to take its toll. After the first two weeks, DC had published seven comics with that image in them. The last two have added three more:

Comic: Batman: The Dark Knight #1Jump: Batman jumps dramatically out of his batplane at the beginning of the issue, not to fight crime, but to dress as Bruce Wayne in an alley and then swing up to a ballroom's balcony on a bat rope. Gratuitous AND stupid.

Comic: Blackhawks #1
Jump: During an attack on an airport, the Blackhawk known as Kunoichi first rips a guy out of his seat and into some suitcases before jumping off the crashing jet and into the water, slowing herself down with recoil from her "jackhammer" gun.

Comic: The Flash #1
Jump: Goons jump out of a VTOL plane and through a skylight, and one of them and the Flash later fall out of its back end during their escape.

That's 10 this month at DC, but to be fair, other comics publishers gave their readers similar jumping off points:

Comic: Captain America and Bucky #622
Jumps: First Namor, then Toro and Bucky jump out of an airplane to fight Nazi Antlanteans.

Comic: Super Dinosaur #4
Jump: Jets scramble to stop Maximum's aircraft from reach the Dynamo Dome, but the pilots have to bail when they find themselves outgunned.

Comic: Jurassic Park: Dangerous Games #1
Jump: The protagonist is thrown out of a helicopter into the swamps of Jurassic Park Island.

You know who DOESN'T bail out of a crashing plane this month?
Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.

Comments

Buryak said…
I can see DiDio saying, "We need more plane jumping! Morrison! More plane jumping! John Johns! More plane jumping! Whats wrong with you punk kid writers? Doncha know what sells comics these days is plane jumping?! Right, Kieth?" Then he walks away and goes puke in a women's toilet... weeping and clutching his knees, "I'm not out of touch... I'm not out of touch... I'm not out of touch... sob..." and so on.
Siskoid said…
And yet, he didn't include such a scene in OMAC...
I don't know anyone who buys the relaunch on iPads, so I'm wondering how much of this is supposed to be visual in that regard. Still, it takes up a splash page in a 20 page comic. AND: I am getting so GD tired of narratives with the character icons at the side of the box. Is it that hard for a writer to compose a script anymore? (I don't even care if you have Supergirl or Batgirl with thought balloons!)
Off-topic, I saw your comment on The Absorbascon. Scipio mentioned the recurring woman in the new 52, and how DC has these mystery women behind everything. He mentioned Harbinger and Kismet, but there waxs also that woman in Final Night trying to warn us about the Sun-Eater. Bad enough we get these women characters that never show up again (or very little, as in the case of Harbinger), but its always women, not guys. My vote for the DC 52 woman is Time Trapper, as at the end of Zero Hour we saw TT had a wisp of long hair flowing in entropy.
Siskoid said…
If you're interested in overused tropes, I suggest you check out the SBG tomorrow.